Music

Being careful with Richard Z Kruspe (Rammstein, Emigrate) interview

Sehr-gut day

Today’s email from editor-in-chief truly made my day. He wrote me that Richard Z Kruspe and one of the Metallica’s guitarists would be interested in an interview. The reason why their management didn’t ignore or deny my request, which Rammstein mgt did few weeks ago btw, was the ESP guitar brand. God bless them. Question for Richard were just sent…

Call from above

I work for a Czech gear-oriented magazine Muzikus for about five years now and I can truly call it my journalist home. I got also a “flat” at a mainstream mag Rock&Pop and occasional stays at few other magazines, but those guys gave me tremendous space and a motivation to grow. Interviews and articles play crucial role, but most of the space receive gear reviews and some all star commercials. One of them is also a world famous brand for guitars, called ESP, from Japan.

This German bad boy or unreachable Metallica poster icons might deny everybody through their management, but when an ESP papa says go, even they, have to listen. I imagine a call like this: “Hey Kirk, cut the solarium for a while and listen for a moment. Do you like your new Frankenstein guitar? Great, here is a number to old central Europe, dial that thing and call a dude in Prague.”

Be gentle bitte schön

Metallica would be available during the release of their next album, but Richard would not mind a promotion right now, as he just released a second album with his side project Emigrate. You might think it’s great to get an interview like that, but there is always a big part of responsibility. Names like that always get an attention. I checked that during his career, he gave few interviews to Czech journalists, but there were rarely any questions on gear. Plus he never seems ultra friendly and his answers were mostly two short sentences. Therefore I started with gear questions, which get the musician on your side, before you work up towards more controversial questions. In general, I told myself, I gotta be really careful so I don’t piss him off over the email. Otherwise he could send on me a collection of pink Rammstein dildos, which would schpönk me in my arschloch! Questions were just sent and will see, what will come back. Front cover candidate promise, might make him go gently and tolerate the size on my questions, on four word pages…

I have been working as a music journalist for almost a decade, I have done hundreds of interviews and its amazing being involved in this world. However there are also plenty of surprising experiences. Enjoy the look behind the scenes.